Why do Union workers suck?
Teachers, Postal Workers, etc. You know who you are. You do 1/2 the work for double the pay. You get raises all the time and pensions and yada yada. Well guess what you and your precious unions are why jobs are being shipped to other countries. The post office is going to be privatized. Does anyone else agree that these people are the reason there is a lack of jobs? We have to pay them $30 per hour to stand on an assembly line and put a the same part on a car day in and day out. A Mexican will do it for $5 per hour with no benefits and be happy and and a Chinese worker will do it all day for $5 and be happy. Are you happy that your selfishness has pushed jobs out of America?
If I have no experience working on cars, how do I learn to become and and get a job as an automotive mechanic?
I'm going to be very blunt with you, not to be rude, but to get the point across to you about what you are really getting into. So here's my experience.I went to technical school straight out of the military, got a 4.0 and won a handful of awards. The program I went through is now about $50k. This got me into a manufacturer run Mercedes-Benz training which today will cost you around $20k. Aced that program too. All of this qualified me to start as an apprentice at $14 an hour at a dealership. I averaged $8k in tool purchases a year for the next decade as I moved up the ranks to assistant foreman at $32 an hour. I also spent another $20k in education to stay current with technology. We're you keeping track? That was $170,000 to become an excellent tech for a luxury brand all for take home net pay of about $50k per year.It was long hard hours of bloody knuckles and sore backs in sweltering and freezing garages, with customers that held no value in the extreem complexity of your hard work, killing yourself for management with no appreciation for your efforts or the cost of your education and tooling, and playing bs games with warranty policy paperwork to get burned on almost every job. The years of simple cars and high pay have gone the way of the 8track my friend.Take the same educational investment over 10 years, go to med school. Then tinker with your fleet of hotrods and supercars in your own garage between tee times at your local country club.The best investment I made was to take junior college classes part time the whole time I was working. Two classes a semester was simple and enjoyable. When I got injured in the shop and was looking at the end of my career I already had an AS in business management and blasted out my BS in Business administration in under a year. Most guys in the shop have nothing to fall back on and their life as they know it ends the moment their body fails.My education has taken me farther in the last 3 years than a wrench took me in 14, and I was the go to guy in the shop. Now I travel globally, meet incredible people, and make a much more comfortable living working with my mind, and using my hands and tools for fun at home.
Do Plumbers Make More Money Than Auto Mechanics?
It depends on where you live. Generally speaking plumbers are unionized and make more money. Unless you are a heavy line mechanic. They are the guys that work on big trucks and heavy equipment. They get paid more than plumbers because they are more scarce. There is more to consider than money. As a plumber you will often be required to crawl under houses to fix problems. The mud, bugs, and confined working space can make the job miserable. As a mechanic you will be working inside out of the weather and will have a concrete floor to work on. Also a well equipped auto shop will have hydraulic lifts to raise the cars to a more convenient working level. Another thing to consider is that mechanics have a wide range of power tolls to make their job easier and faster. Plumbers have few power tools. Good luck in your selection.
Union vs. non-union?
I am in Houston Texas, and I am about to apply to work as an electrical apprentice. Can you tell me what the benifits of working in the union vs. non-union. What are the dues for. And, of course, is it really worth it, or does it not matter. I will pick the best answer. THANK YOU
Are people who refuse to buy American made cars anti-American? Shouldn't we be calling them traitors to the US?
No - that is the very reason that the industry has got into so much trouble!!! For years American companies have tried to force people to buy the cars they want to make instead of the cars people want to buy!! People do not want huge gas guzzling cars at the price petrol is. People are environmentally conscious and want smaller, cleaner, leaner machines but which are as powerful - and in many cases more powerful and maneuverable than the huge cars!! The Japs and Europeans sold the cars people wanted and they were so popular it allowed them to carry their research and development forwards to produce cars that most American cars simply cannot compete with nowadays!! The big American car companies committed suicide and now want you to pay to save them!!!
What's a reasonable hourly labor rate for an auto mechanic, and what factors contribute to that rate?
I’ve paid various pricesm guessing from $50 to $85.example 0: City of San Francisco - 2003 replace doo-dad in transmission, they looked up the “hours to replace doo-dad” in a reate-book or sort, the book said 12 so they charged me 12 hours. It could have taken em 5h or 15h, but they charged me 12 hours. Labor rate was $85/hour.example 1: San Jose 2014, 30k miles ago - Replace head gasket on an inline-6 engine. The shop is certainly all about car repair - the office is a small room filled with parts and whatnot. Headgasket + head rebuild (machined and cleaned) + new oil + new coolant + parts + labor was $1500 total before tax. Dealer would be $3–$4k (I did not even check, quoting those numbers from an online forum). So for the work, guessing even $500 for parts, then $1000 labor for machining, head rebuild, and replacement, I am certain it was more than 10 hours, so less than $100/hour in labor. Guessing 15 hours, thats around $70/hour.As others have said, it really depends. KEy is find a shop that values you, and they’ll take care of you as a customer.